New legislative session in January

[RecycleMichael]

I have had some success in Oklahoma City at the capital and have failed at other times. I was successful in raising the fines for illegal littering, got the legislature to adopt a recycling goal, etc.

But I also proposed a bottle bill for a nickle deposit on beverage containers. Eleven times. I would find a sponsor or two, get the bill assigned to committee, make a passionate speech filled with facts, then watch it die in committee. Eleven times. I even had the speaker of the House as the title sponsor once. Had the blessing of the Association of County Commissioners endorsed it. I showed how it could produce jobs and an extra 25 million dollars a year in unredeemed deposits that they could spend on roads or even prisons. Eleven times I did this.

I never made it out of committee. It never made the floor for a vote or even discussion.

[CoffeeBean]

Private Prisons

I'm against private prisons generally, and in 2006 the industry lobbied for (and got) special rights not enjoyed by other private corporations. And they did it under the guise of inmate lawsuit abuse, while not disclosing that the "special rights" they sought applied more broadly to prevent suits by people who are not even inmates. A lawsuit is the only weapon against private prisons in Oklahoma because the DOC and the Legislature don't enforce the management contracts.  

Damage Cap - Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act

The cap is set at $175k for counties with a population in excess of 300k and $125k for counties with a population less than 300k. These caps were embarrassingly low when enacted, but haven't kept pace with inflation. If a school bus hits you in wagoner county and causes $1M in damages, you can only recover $125k. Whatever the balance, you still owe it, and will probably find yourself in bankruptcy court.  And don't think for a second that such an accident would cause financial harm to the municipality. They all have the ability to carry liability insurance.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I am in Ritze's district.  I have no hope for improvement.

Any guesses on how much it's gonna cost to clean up all the signs that clown left laying all around??   His minions were putting them all over the district by the thousands!!!

[heironymouspasparagus]

I worked with Dan for years.  He's a very nice person.  I would never recommend him for a position of authority.


Edited to add - these sombitches have kids.  It blows my mind they act to hurt their children so badly.

Their kids go to private schools.  Not their problem.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I have had some success in Oklahoma City at the capital and have failed at other times. I was successful in raising the fines for illegal littering, got the legislature to adopt a recycling goal, etc.

But I also proposed a bottle bill for a nickle deposit on beverage containers. Eleven times. I would find a sponsor or two, get the bill assigned to committee, make a passionate speech filled with facts, then watch it die in committee. Eleven times. I even had the speaker of the House as the title sponsor once. Had the blessing of the Association of County Commissioners endorsed it. I showed how it could produce jobs and an extra 25 million dollars a year in unredeemed deposits that they could spend on roads or even prisons. Eleven times I did this.

I never made it out of committee. It never made the floor for a vote or even discussion.

This is what I touched on earlier.  By yourself, even with friends in high places, you are only 1 vote.  At the time we were working on the helmet law, one of the guys we worked with told us that each personal contact has a weight - if 1 call is received, they figure that equals some number of people in the district who feel the same way.  IIRC, the number was about 100 or so....just because the vast majority will NEVER write or even call, even if they feel strongly about a topic.  If you had showed up with 1,000 people's hand written letters from a cross section of counties/districts, you would have everyone's attention in a big way!   No matter what Coke, Pepsi, or WalMart was telling them about bottle deposits....

I heard on NPR this morning that there is a new "grass roots" organization starting up to attempt to offset the effect of lobbyists statewide.  I know nothing about it yet, but am going to find out.  And if they are 'real'  I may just get political again.  But it's gonna take a LOT of us to get anything going.  And there is always the problem of the facts - these guys keep getting elected by 60% margins just because, "Jesus....!!"  That is a huge mountain to climb.

[heironymouspasparagus]

While this playlist is my "go to" listening when/if in an office, the second one is probably the more valuable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InRDF_0lfHk&list=RDInRDF_0lfHk&index=1


http://kosu.org/

[heironymouspasparagus]

And yet another billion dollar shortfall for the State of Oklahoma!  Another round of massive cuts for every state department, except the legislature!   You remember those people - the ones that voted themselves raises and huge budget increases (new computers all around for $15 million!!) while we were busy cutting $400 million from state education over the Mary Failin' regime!

Yay, team - all those people who voted to keep the status quo a few weeks ago!   Such a clever lot...

Well, played, Oklahoma!!   It's official - we are now worse than Mississippi...!!

[cannon_fodder]

Budget cuts?  What budget cuts:

It’s a tough time in Oklahoma, except for Scott Pruitt

[heironymouspasparagus]

Budget cuts?  What budget cuts:

It’s a tough time in Oklahoma, except for Scott Pruitt

I have mentioned First Baptist in Broken Arrow a few times....they have eclipsed Rhema, long time leader of Theocracy Advancement for Oklahoma and the US, as the preeminent political power in Broken Arrow.   Just the exact opposite of what Jesus tried to teach us....



And we are just collectively stupid enough to be likely to vote for him for Governor when Trump decides to move on....